Appalachia

Capito mum on helping miners with black lung? Gee, what a surprise! NOT.

The Charleston Gazette
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Tennant would back Rockefeller bill on black lung; Capito mum
By David Gutman, Staff writer and Ken Ward Jr.

A new bill would make broad changes to the federal black lung program, intending to make it easier for miners suffering from the disease to receive the government benefits they are owed.

The bill, from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., was unveiled Thursday and will be officially introduced after November’s elections.

With a polarized and unproductive Congress, the bill has little chance of passage this year, a fact Casey acknowledged.

“If it doesn’t work then, we’ll start over again in 2015,” Casey said in a conference call with reporters....

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